Text: Laslo Seyda, Photo: Niklas Marc Heinecke

Hanna Wille and Marla Bergmann are in their early twenties - and are already sailing at the Olympic level. How does it feel to be torn between growing up and competing, friendship and TV appearances, social life and top-class sport? We meet the two testimonials from 8beaufort.Hamburg where it all began for them

The symbol is known all over the world and the message is clear: this is where Olympians are at home. After all, you have to show what you have.

Even though the sun is already high in the sky and the temperature has already climbed well above 20 degrees, there is not much going on on the Blankenese promenade on this Saturday morning at the end of June. Café Maats, which is tucked away next to the striking lighthouse, has its doors still closed. The boats moored at the jetties in the marina are still hiding under their tarpaulins, as if they had turned over under their bed covers. The Mühlenberg Sailing Club MSC is also deserted. Everyone has flown out. Regatta on the Alster. And yet, even though no one is there to see it, a large white flag decorated with five intertwined rings is being hoisted.

       

Hanna Wille, 23, and Marla Bergmann, 22, are sitting in the club room on the first floor of the clubhouse and looking out at the grey-blue, glittering Elbe. They are so young that people reflexively address them informally.

The eyes of the two look tired. Their shoulders sag a little. Even the cheese sandwich that Marla is holding in her hand is chewed feebly rather than with enthusiasm. The last few weeks have been tough, as can be seen from the newsletter that the two send out. June 6th: christening of the new boat. Then straight on to the training camp in Marseille. June 26th: press brunch of the German Sailing Association at the Kiel Week and the official nomination by the German Olympic Sports Confederation. Then: two days of team building with the other German sailors. Marla and Hanna only arrived with their families in Hamburg the evening before. And in a few days they are off again for France. At the beginning of July there will be a final, four-day regatta there. Then they move into the Olympic Village. Last training camp. Countdown. From July 28th it will be all or nothing in the Bay of Marseille.

Despite the stress and tension, Hanna and Marla have a smile on their faces on this day that would actually be perfect for a long overdue break. "It's part of the game," says Marla and takes another bite of the cheese sandwich.

The team that represents Germany’s sailing hope has known each other since childhood.

Hanna has been sailing on boats since she was just crawling. "I was practically born into it," she says. Her father had been sailing all his life, as had her older brother. And her grandmother, who had owned the boat for a long time, only sold it when she was in her mid-eighties.

Marla moves from Berlin to Hamburg in the second grade, ends up in the same class as Hanna, quickly becomes friends with her, and shortly afterwards takes her first course at the Mühlenberger Sailing Club.

Like many children, she starts in individual boats called Optimists, which are barely bigger than a walnut shell. It doesn't take long before the girls in their Optis are sailing between the quay wall, out of the safe harbor basin and to where the container ships usually shove their way through the Elbe, causing a lot of waves. That really takes optimism.

At weekends, the girls take part in regattas, spend their holidays in training camps, go on holiday with their families on some big boat, and teach others their knowledge as volunteer trainers in the club.

Hanna and Marla lead us through the changing rooms on the ground floor of the clubhouse, where the life jackets are stacked up to the ceiling and where the locker room benches still look like those in school gyms from the 1990s. "People don't come to MSC for the style, they come for the sport," says Marla, not without pride. No club in Germany has a larger Opti section. Lots of potential for a role model.

“How cool would it be if one of the kids said about us: I want to be as good as those two.”

Outside, they take another look at the shelves where the children's boats are parked, with the mast and sail removed. Popcorn, Blitz and Krusty Krab are on the sterns. Hanna and Marla still have to giggle when they read these names. "It's a shame that Sternchen is missing," says Hanna, pressing her lips together and pointing to the empty space on the shelf. It would have been nice to see her again. But in the boat she used to sit in, a small child is now zipping across the Alster.

At the age of 14, the juniors move up to the 420 class – a four-meter-twenty-long dinghy equipped with two sails, a spinnaker and a trapeze for hanging in.

Since 2016, Hanna and Marla have literally been in the same boat.

Because to master it, two crew members are now needed: Marla, the helmswoman, controls the rudder, sets the mainsail, and keeps the boat on course as best as possible. Hanna, the foredeck crew, operates the headsail and really hangs on the ropes to balance the boat on a tight course. The competitive spirit is awakened.

The duo now sails in the 49erFX: a skiff, lightly built, extremely stable, with wider trapeze wings, an even lower mast and even smaller sails - a high-performance boat that pushes the boundaries of physics. If you watch videos of Bergmann and Wille on the Internet, you'll start to sweat just watching. The two sailors toil, heave and pump as they cut through the water. They pull on lines, trim sails, dive under the boom that swings from left to right on the mast, let themselves fall, hang on the ropes, push themselves onto the edge of the boat with their toes, then lie almost on the surface of the water, fly over the sea, everything perfectly coordinated and coordinated.

A ballet over the eternal blue. And Hanna and Marla are the prima ballerinas.

In 2021, the two will become U21 world champions. In the same year, they will take second place at the World Cup in the Netherlands. In 2023, they will win the Kiel Week. And now: the Olympic Games. If the two women played football, they would have gone from the regional league to the Champions League - and that in just three years. This means that expectations are rising. The pressure is increasing.

The two sailors have now made themselves comfortable on the pallet furniture on the terrace. Time for a few uncomfortable questions. "I don't think it matters what result we come home with," says Marla. "Hardly any of the sports observers would have expected that we would be competing in Marseille at our age." Things are very different for the sailors who have already taken part in the competitions in Rio and Tokyo, and who may even have won a medal.

But the club also has high hopes for the sailing duo: In the 63-year history of the MSC, they are the first team to compete at the Olympics. When Hanna and Marla qualify at the last minute in Hyères, France, in April 2024, the fans are overjoyed. A group of 50 people come to Hamburg Airport and sing to the young athletes with a rewritten song by sailing legend Frank Schönfeldt. Twice as many people are waiting at the MSC, wearing T-shirts with a photo of the decisive race printed on them. The ticket that confirms eligibility to participate in the games now hangs above the counter in the club room, framed behind glass. And even if these many people and their dreams weren't there, their own expectations would still remain.

What do Hanna and Marla expect from themselves?

The answer comes without hesitation, from both of them at the same time: "Be in the top ten."

Hanna and Marla laugh out loud for a moment and then pull themselves together again.

This is not a joke.

"Sure, we've never competed against the world's best sailors," admits Hanna. "Marseille is also a very complicated sailing area." Whether the wind is blowing onshore or offshore and at how many knots changes every day. But that makes it exactly the right area for good all-rounders who can handle any wind strength . "Good all-rounders like us."

The minimum goal for the two Hamburg women is the medal race, which takes place on the last of the four regatta days. Here, the ten best teams fight for a place on the podium. For Hanna and Marla, however, it is more about just a place on the list, about more than just a refined piece of silver. A top placement also ensures how much support they will continue to receive from the German Sailing Association, how much funding they will receive from the German Olympic Sports Confederation and whether they will end up in the squad for next year.

What if the result is disappointing?

"Disappointments are simply part of the process, a step on the way to success. You shouldn't read too much into it," says Marla, and it sounds so incredibly professional and also a little harsh. "Sport teaches you that things don't always go smoothly in life," says Hanna. "Sometimes the wave goes up, sometimes it goes down."

Like in spring 2024, Hanna says, she hit a pretty low point. During the World Championships in Lanzarote, there were three chances to secure a place at the Olympics - and she and Marla messed up all three. "Over the last two years, we have continued to improve our performance. And I'm actually very good at assessing the result. But when we didn't manage it, I was so shocked and frustrated that I couldn't think about it for five days, let alone talk about it."

She briefly considered giving up everything and finally starting her studies. Just write the exams that are set. Just get her degree, as planned.

“You have something to orient yourself on and not have to wear yourself out completely,” says Hanna. A path without much resistance.

For a few moments, the two young women become very thoughtful. "You notice how life changes, how friendships fade, how you distance yourself from some people," says Marla. "While we are training and sometimes away for three or four months at a time, our friends are planning cool vacations, moving in with their partners, maybe starting a family. These are completely different worlds." It is particularly difficult for her to leaf through family photo albums and see which family celebrations, vacations or beautiful moments she has missed.

As long as sailing is going well and the goals we have set ourselves are achieved, this sadness can be pushed aside. But if we don't experience success, doubts arise. "If we hadn't made it to the Olympics, it would have been really difficult," Marla admits. "Luckily, we have a sports psychologist. She knows lots of methods that can help us deal with these ups and downs and give us the strength to carry on."

And they still have each other: " Something that sets us apart from other sailing teams is the relationship we have on land. In Kiel we live just two minutes away from each other. Sure, we don't go to the cinema or have coffee as often as other friends. But we do everything possible for each other and support each other in our decisions.

And because there is someone who has gone through the same thing as you, who feels the same way, you feel less alone and less wrong in that moment," says Hanna.

With so many serious thoughts, one question comes to mind: Was it all worth it? Would you do anything differently today?

"No," says Marla. After winning the World Championship , they decided to concentrate 100 percent on sailing and put everything else on hold for the time being. And because everything is going according to plan, they have nothing to regret. "We're going to the Olympic Games. So we've obviously done a lot of things right." Wave down, wave up.

And what about the future?

"I have no idea," says Hanna. "You change over time. Just because we are so passionate about our sport at the moment doesn't mean it will always stay that way. Next month is planned. We have our sights set on the 2028 Olympic Games.

We'll just wait and see what happens next.

We live in the moment.

Today they could perhaps go for a relaxing round of golf, suggests Hanna. Or just take a nap, suggests Marla. Anything but going on the boat: the two of them agree on that.

For even more current information about Hanna and Marla's journey: BergmanWilleSailing